Race 8 is finished and on corrected we think is was between Sibelius and Chimp for corrected victory. King One was doing well but apparently had an incident with Miss Behaving which resulted in damage to their rig and they’ve been forced to head home.
Hooray! The wind has swung round to the south west and we race 8 is now underway.
12.30 – The fleet is now out in the race area and the wind is looking more promising. Its still a bit unstable but the RC has the makings of a course ready so hopefully it wont be long before we can get things underway.
11.15 – Rob Lamb has just radioed the competitors again to update them on the wind situation. He reports that the wind is still a little unstable but they now have around 7 knots from 140 degrees. The forecast is for this to go round to 210 degrees. He has instructed the boats to leave the marina and proceed to the race area to await further instructions and they will continue to monitor the wind. The AP has now been taken down from the club flag pole.
The press team will go afloat in a little while but we’ll do our best to update you periodically from the water using the mobile phone.
10.44 – The sun is now trying to come out and its definitely much brighter here in Cowes but the forecast wind still hasn’t filled in although it is trying…..
Here’s a quick snap shot of the view from the Royal Corinthian deck down towards the race area showing the drooping AP!
South Boats Special Projects Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has agreed to become the title sponsor of the 5th Half Ton Classics Cup, taking place from 22nd to 26th August.
Hosted by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in Cowes, the regatta is open to all former IOR half ton racing yachts, and promises to be the largest event ever in the history of the halftonners.
The Half Ton Class Europe emerged in 2003 to ensure the cooperation of all European Halftonner-related events. The founding idea of the class is to encourage cost-effective, fun & affordable sailing.
For a boat to be considered a Halftonner it must have been designed and built as a prototype one-off in the period between January 1967 and December 1994, have been eligible to participate at an edition of IOR Half Ton Cup and no alterations have been made to the hull of the boat, except keel and rudder. Moreover, every production boat derived from the hull of a prototype one-off halftonner will also be considered as a halftonner.
Jeremy Paul of South Boats is quoted as saying “South Boats is delighted to support this regatta, which epitomises a vital part of the culture of the Isle of Wight. The tradition, competitiveness and quality of the halftonners are all values that South Boats can readily identify with”.
South Boats is recognised as a pioneer in designing and manufacturing wind farm service vessels. The shipyard has built 45 vessels in five classes, from 15m to 30 meters, representing a 50% market share in European wind farms that are serviced by 13 operators, including Turbine Transfers Ltd. (Holyhead Towing Company), Iceni Marine Services Ltd., Northern Offshore Services AB, MPI Workboats, Ltd. (Vroon Group BV), Maritime Craft Services and MTS Group. The boats have worked on 25 wind farm projects in 7 countries.
South Boat designs are continually evolving to meet the growing expectations of the industry for higher levels of safety, reduced noise levels and enhanced crew comfort.
If, like me, you’d never heard of South Boats before you saw them pop up as the title sponsor of the 2011 Half Ton Classic Cup you might be interested to know that the company is actually one of the Isle of Wight’s great business success stories.
Founded in 1996 and based in Cowes, South Boats has become one of the great UK successes in ship building and is a worldwide market leader with their range of GRP and aluminium offshore wind farm service vessels and support and work boats.
The South Boats story started in 1996 with 8m monohull vessels followed by the extensive and much publicized outfit of a 12m Lochin vessel in 1998. In 1999 catamarans were added to the range with the first 10m vessel ‘J&B’ still in service today with her first owner, fishing off the Isle of Wight. A few years later, a further 10m vessel ‘Sundance’ assured South Boats’ position as the UK’s leading builder of angling and diving charter vessels.
In 2004, following some research in the emerging offshore wind market, South Boats built their first offshore wind farm crew transfer vessel, ‘Sirocco’. More work boats for this industry followed before full production started in 2007, forcing a structured expansion.
Today production and operations take place over four sites and is one of the largest builders of aluminium catamaran work boats in the UK with over 150 skilled workers and a turnover in excess of £20m.
The company has a vision to achieve a further 100% growth to maintain a minimum 50% market share globally of offshore wind farm work boats. Extensive research has been carried out on quantity and type of work boats required to support offshore wind farm construction and O&M around the world and licensee’s are already being appointed with yards that share South Boat’s vision.
Next time you head up the Medina keep an eye open for the South Boats vessels at their current location at Medina Yard just above the chain ferry and soon you will also be able to see South Boats at Venture Quays as the company has also just expanded into new fit-out facilities there as well.
Its now 10.00 and although the skies are lightening and conditions are improving we still don’t have any wind so Rob Lamb has posted a postponement and the AP is flying on the Club flag pole.
09.30 – The weather is starting to lift – it has stopped raining and we can see the mainland again – but currently we still have no wind out in the race area so RO Rob Lamb has radioed the competitors and advised them to wait ashore for the time being and he will update them again by radio shortly.
The forecast is for the wind to pick up once the rain has gone through but the question is how long that will take. Fingers crossed its sooner rather than later as the teams are raring to go.
Last night the 2011 Half Ton Classic Competitors enjoyed a brilliant Pirate fancy dress party. Here are a few happy snaps showing some of the great costumes people came up with:-
Half Ton Classics Cup 2025 